Shooting first billboard and need help!

cSePhotography

I have been asked to shoot the exterior of a building with the intention of putting it on a billboard. I'm hoping someone that has done this before can offer some words of wisdom. I own a Nikon D80 (10 megapixel). I have made 6 foot prints from this camera, shot at 200 ISO and been skeptical about the quality. The billboard is 12X24. Client also wants to do night time shots which sounds to me like an ISO nightmare.
Questions;
Do I need to rent a better camera? If so, I'd prefer to stay with Nikon, what do you recomend?
Are my specs good enough and it's just understood that since the image is so far away, no one notices the quality?
How do I survive the ISO nightmare from shooting at night?
Do I need to consider shooting panoramic?

Thanks for your help, any feedback is appreciated.

-Evan

bloomphotog

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need huge resolution for billboard work. 12x24 is pretty small too, so no worries.

The D80 will be fine, and night shots won't be a problem. Just tripod and shoot at 200 ISO. Shoot at F11-14 and expect LONG exposures.

Depending on the desired perspective, stitched pano shots are also an option. Use the same settings as above, and shoot for 30-50% overlap.

du8die

bloomphotog wrote:

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need huge resolution for billboard work. 12x24 is pretty small too, so no worries.

Just for clarity, you're talking feet, right?!? 12'x24'...

From what I've read, you'd actually be pretty surprised if you looked up close at a billboard. They're meant to be viewed from 1/4 of a mile away - so deep detail isn't as important as you might think.

cSePhotography

Yes, I am talking about feet.
Thank you very much, guys. Definitely sets my mind at ease (and saves me $400 rental)
Thank you!!

Nikonic1

I'd love to see some shots of the finished product if it gets that far!!! Good luck!

Scott_Quier

cSePhotography wrote:

I have been asked to shoot the exterior of a building with the intention of putting it on a billboard. I'm hoping someone that has done this before can offer some words of wisdom. I own a Nikon D80 (10 megapixel). I have made 6 foot prints from this camera, shot at 200 ISO and been skeptical about the quality. The billboard is 12X24. Client also wants to do night time shots which sounds to me like an ISO nightmare.
Questions;
Do I need to rent a better camera? If so, I'd prefer to stay with Nikon, what do you recomend?
Are my specs good enough and it's just understood that since the image is so far away, no one notices the quality?
How do I survive the ISO nightmare from shooting at night?
Do I need to consider shooting panoramic?

Thanks for your help, any feedback is appreciated.

-Evan

This looks like an expecise in simple arithmetic. What's the dot pitch of the billboard. Multiply that by the dimensions of the billboard. That gives you required resolution. As has already been said, I think you will find that your camera is more than up to the job.

As for the night shots..... if traffic between the building and the camera can be controlled or is not an issue, shoot this using a tripod, shutter release, mirror lockup, and at as low an ISO as you can. If traffic is an issue, use tripod, shutter release, mirror lockup, and and ISO that allows for a shutter speed sufficient to stop action. Got too much noise? Just use NeatImage, Noise Ninja, etc to reduce that noise. So what if you loose detail - see the above paragraph